Help! Mysterious Disease Killing My Fish!

[PlumbersMerchant]

I think a lot of the time with cycling its a toss up between luck and good water. I didnt know about a fishless cycle before i joined this forum so i did the old school method of fill the tank, flake of food in every other day then leave it a week. Next i added a couple of hardy fish to help the tank along. This was how my father in law advised me and it must be luck but ive been ok so far. bit random and probably not needed but just wanted to show you that the other side of the coin can work too but i think i was more lucky !

 

[Gootz]

I think a lot of the time with cycling its a toss up between luck and good water. I didnt know about a fishless cycle before i joined this forum so i did the old school method of fill the tank, flake of food in every other day then leave it a week. Next i added a couple of hardy fish to help the tank along. This was how my father in law advised me and it must be luck but ive been ok so far. bit random and probably not needed but just wanted to show you that the other side of the coin can work too but i think i was more lucky !

Thanks for sharing your experience.  If anything, this is just teaching me to be more patient which is a good thing.  My LFS felt bad for me, so when it comes to stocking the tank they said they were going to hook me up.  Will keep everyone posted!  For now, just finishing up the last 3 days of treatment, then at least one week of running as is to clean the tank back up and then good to go!
 
I did see some celestial pearl danios and bloodfin tetras which I really like.  So I have more options of what I'm going to do now.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think a lot of the time with cycling its a toss up between luck and good water. I didnt know about a fishless cycle before i joined this forum so i did the old school method of fill the tank, flake of food in every other day then leave it a week. Next i added a couple of hardy fish to help the tank along. This was how my father in law advised me and it must be luck but ive been ok so far. bit random and probably not needed but just wanted to show you that the other side of the coin can work too but i think i was more lucky !

The key difference between what you did and the OP is that you added fish food, so that you had an ammonia source available for the bacteria to start the process of cycling. The key to the cycling process is that the bacteria we are looking to cultivate needs a food source (ammonia) for their population to grow, and having the ammonia in low levels is what they prefer. So you started with a fishless cycle before adding the fish. And some water carries more of the bacteria we are looking to cultivate than other water. Poor daizeUK just can't seem to get the bacteria growing.

 

[Gootz]

Quick status update:
 
Unfortunately my betta and the last CT died, so all that's left is the oto.  Another sad thing is I can't find the assassin snail in the tank anywhere.  I looked under all of the plants and decor so he must've dug into the substrate. 

The good news is my master (liquid) test kit came today.  I tested the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.  Ammonia and Nitrite were both at zero and the Nitrate was reading around 25-30.  So all is good there!  Just running the filter with the carbon in now for another week to help clear out anything else that shouldn't be in there (leftover fungus spores, etc.).

Then it's time to start restocking (slowly).

 
Check out my other thread if you're interested in seeing what my stocking plans are - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/412241-new-29g-low-tech-planted-tank/
 
Thanks again to everyone who contributed, I really appreciate the help.

 

[byork]

I would first like to apologize for not getting back to this thread in a more timely fashion. I would also like to emphasize the importance of reading a entire thread and thoroughly understanding the questions, responses and additional details before placing your foot in your mouth.

That said I am sure that you have followed the instructions that were given which clearly stated feeding the remaining fauna. If I am incorrect and you have decided to stop please add that detail clearly. Wrt your betta and the condition in which he was found dead there are several other diseases that can cause growths and discoloration and ultimately death. If the discoloration was localized to the gills then IMO the cause was no2 poisoning. However, if the discoloration is not localized and is black (from the picture it looks black) it may be a different problem altogether. Thyroid conditions for example.

Have you tested you source water yet? I have not looked at your other thread so if the information is posted there please direct me.

 

[Gootz]

Thanks for the response.  I honestly don't think it was NO2 poisoning.  The levels were tested, tested, and the tested again throughout the entire process.  They always tested out fine.  As far as the growth on the betta, it went from the mouth halfway back to his tail.  Almost his entire fin was gone too. 
 
I am not going to debate about the cause as it's in the past and everything is looking fine now, but if you have any other thoughts about it I'm willing to listen.  I am going to test all of the levels again on Friday and if everything checks out, start stocking again (assuming my LFS has rummynose tetras). 

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Do bare in mind you are still "fish in cycling" and now with only one Otocinclus that survived the initial setup of this tank. Even if you get zero ammonia/nitrite results, we cannot say this tank is safe for anything but your single catfish right now. Adding a school of 6+ Rummynose Tetras is a realtively massive increase in the bioload in this immature tank/filter, there will not be a big enough bacterial colony to cope with this massive bioload increase. The normal guideline is to not increase the existing bioload of a filter by more than double what it is supporting before the new purchases. So in your case, another Oto.
 
You need to be prepared to do 50-95% daily water changes for the next 60-90 days because you are "fish in cycling." Take your water samples from different parts of the tank on different days, readings you get from the surface may not be representative of readings on the tank floor, especially in squat tanks with lower flow (every time I use my 620T I often get worse readings from the tank bottom, because the circulation is not great down there).

 

[Gootz]

Great info, thanks for sharing.  I will not be adding anywhere close to 6 fish at a time.  I will be going at a 2-3 fish per week pace and periodically changing the water.  I have a python which makes water changes MUCH easier, so I don't have any worries.  I will make sure to test water samples at various depths in the tank to ensure an equal distribution, but I do have a 50GPH filter (Penguin 200B - rated for 30-50G tank) which siphons the majority from the bottom, but also has a mid-level filter to help create more evenly distributed levels.
 
Appreciate your concern.  After what I've experienced you better believe I'll be much more cautious this go around.